Environmental accounting disclosure practices of quoted manufacturing companies in Nigeria

Abstract

The study assessed the level of environmental disclosure practice of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Anchored on the legitimacy theory, the ex-post facto research design was adopted by the study. The sample was drawn from the population of sixty quoted manufacturing companies on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as at 31 December, 2017 using the judgmental sampling technique. The study variables were sourced from the annual reports and the stand-alone environmental reports of the selected companies from 2007-2017. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) environmental disclosure index was adopted in assessing the disclosure practice of the companies over the years. The findings showed that the environmental disclosure practice of the quoted manufacturing companies was low in the areas of material, energy, emissions, effluent and waste, water and biodiversity. A good number of the manufacturing companies disclosed very well the theme “others” in the area of environmental expenditure and investment. The study further observed a non-significant statistical difference in the disclosure practice of manufacturing companies over the years (t = -1.440, p = .223). The study concluded that there exists no significant difference in the level of environmental disclosure practice of manufacturing companies in Nigeria from 2007 to 2017.

Assessing Financial Returns Through Environmental Responsibility Disclosure Among Listed Oil and Gas Firms in Nigeria

“…Madawa and Ebiaghan (2022) focused on listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria from 2010 to 2020, finding a negative and significant effect of ROE on environmental cost disclosure, a positive relationship between NPM and environmental cost disclosure, and no significant effect of EPS on environmental cost disclosure. Worimegbe (2022) explored the impact of environmental costs on the market share of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria from 2007 to 2017, revealing a significant positive impact of environmental costs on market share.…”

“…To address these opposing views, academics in various fields have empirically investigated whether environmental accounting can lead to superior financial performance for firms (Saleh, Bappah, Orsaa & Saleh, 2022). Recently, the public's increased interest in environmental reporting and the growth of environmentally-responsible industries have further motivated academic exploration into the relationship between corporate environmental disclosure and financial performance (Kurawa & Shuaibu, 2022;Worimegbe, 2022).…”

“…Thus, the depletion of the ozone layer continue to cause an imbalance in the environmental system that supports human life, emphasizing the need for proper environmental accounting to account for the impact of corporate activities (Worimegbe, 2022). The lack of comprehensive and reliable information on the environmental practices of oil and gas firms allows companies to pollute the environment while appearing more economically efficient than others who incur costs to protect the environment.…”